Daily Times

FRANKFURT: A key Turkish religious organisation in Germany said on Sunday it would further distance itself from Ankara after politicians and media raised concerns of foreign influence. Mosque federation Ditib “is and will remain politically neutral”, spokesman Zekeriya Altug told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) newspaper. “Apart from the imams supplied by the Diyanet (Turkey’s religious affairs agency), there is no financial support from the Turkish state or the Diyanet,” he said. Some media and politicians have raised fears of divided loyalties among Germany’s roughly three-million-strong Turkish population — and suggested Ditib’s imams could be relaying political messages from the Turkish government.

Ditib hosts imams trained in Turkey and paid by Diyanet — most of whom are unfamiliar with German culture and may not even speak the language — at its 900 mosques and Islamic associations.

Altug’s comments were more conciliatory than a statement released by Ditib on August 8 in which the group rejected all criticism based on fears of foreign control of its imams. The spokesman said Ditib would look for alternative sources of funding to train and pay preachers.